http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Victoria-and-Alastair/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Victoria and Alastair en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:52:23 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:52:23 +0000 It just kept on snowing in Jackson Hole with Januarylike conditions right up to the end of March. Mum Dad and Emma and Lyndon who came out with some friends timed it perfectly and even Mum was sometimes to be found knee deep in powder although not always on purpose. The conditions were good enough for me to have a crack at the infamous Corbet's Couloir known for the sizeable vertical entry off http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Balham/blog-267696.html Our last two weeks in Utah were an almost perfect mixture of big dumps of powder snow and glorious sunny days. We skied all the major resorts in the state with Snowbird Solitude and Snowbasin our favorites.Utah claims to have the greatest snow on earth and we certainly had some of our best days of skiing ever. The conditions meant that Alastair was able to ski more and more extreme terrain and e http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Jackson-Hole/blog-249648.html From the tropical bliss of Bora Bora we flew via LA and an unusually friendly US immigration experience the official joked that I looked like a terrorist at least I think it was a joke into Sante Fe New Mexico and a particularly cold western American winter. This marked the start of the eagerly awaited especially by me skiing leg of the trip. As Vic remarked on the pretty adobe buildings I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Park-City/blog-241604.html Leaving the stunning Lakes Hawea and Wanaka behind we headed south west to Te Anau. Amazingly we managed to coordinate itineraries with friends from home and fellow travelers Andy and Clare. Much swapping of stories and wine drinking ensued leaving us going our separate ways talking of detoxing. Needless to say we haven't started yetFrom there we spent two days cruising two of the main sounds of http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/French-Polynesia/Bora-Bora/blog-237457.html Having arrived in Auckland from Sydney we headed north into a land of huge kauri trees and giant Maori people. At the top of New Zealand is Spirits Bay where according to Maori legend the spirits of the deceased leave for their journey to the afterlife. It is certainly a place befiting such a legend. Beyond the quiet campsite set in the dunes white sand stretches for miles while inquisitive http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Wanaka/blog-232730.html Since our last entry we have spent a week in and around Alice Springs looking at and walking amongst rocks and have driven round the coast from Adelaide to Sydney again doing quite a lot of walking but relatively little fishingIn the 'Red Centre' we visited all the main rocks which were as beautiful and impressive as it is claimed and also had enough time to visit some lesser known and therefo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Ponsonby/blog-226389.html At the end of our stay in Port Douglas we attended one of Queenslands less ecologically orientated attractions the cane toad races. The contestants on this particular evening included among others Gay Fredo Fat Bastard and Jerry Springer whom Vic ended up owning for the evening so I suppose technically she leased him. The event involved the owners trying to get their toad to jump off a table http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Alice-Springs/blog-222737.html The journey back from Broome took us along the Great Northern Highway. It's a long road and for the most part there wasn't much to see just lots of scrub the occasional willie willie and the odd dead cow puffed up like a hot air ballon. This made for a very long day of driving before we reached Halls Creek the main access point for Purnululu National Park also known as the Bungle Bungles. We t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Port-Douglas/blog-217273.html 2500km 7 days and numerous mosquito bites later we have arrived in Broome. Our journey took us through the amazing scenery of Kakadu National Park and The Kimberley along the notorious unsealed Gibb River Road. Luckily our trusty Britz camper van was up to the task and we emerged dusty and hot but otherwise unscathed several days later. A few weeks ago I would not have believed that Vic would be http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Broome/blog-214407.html Although it has not been long since we last wrote we head off into the Outback tomorrow for three weeks so are not sure when we will next be in touch. We have been in Darwin for the last couple of days fighting off jet lag and trying adjust to the 30 C plus temperatures and 7080 humidity. It is a really nice relaxed place big enough to be a proper working city and so not overwhelmed by the mu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Darwin/blog-210573.html We are back in London a little more tanned and a lot more relaxed after the warm up leg of our big trip to Jamie and Eva's wedding in Tudela Spain. The whole weekend especially the wedding was awesome. We ate and drank pretty much non stop gin and tonics come in pints and discovered that scottish country dancing works very well to spanish musicWe are off again tomorrow and Alastair is hopin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Aragon/Zaragoza/blog-209552.html